Method of producing tapestry pile fabrics



A. G. FROMUTH.

METHOD OF PRODUCING TAPESTRY PILE FABRICS.

APPLICATION FILED M'AY 3.1918.

2 SHEETSSHEEI 1.

%% avwemfoz Patented Feb. 17,1920.

aflo'cmuaw m/ x A. G. FROMUTH.

METHOD OF PRODUCING TAPESTRY PILE FABRICS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 8.1918.

1,330,859. Patented Feb. 17,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEEI 2.

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AUGUST G. IEROMUTH, OF EHILADELPl-IIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 ALVA CARPET & RUG COMPANY, CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD OF PRODUCING TAPESTRY PILE FABRICS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1'7, 1920.

Application filed May 8, 1918. Serial No. 233,226.

1 b all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUST G. FROMUTH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Producing Tapestry Pile Fabrics, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings, formingpart thereof.

My invention relates to a method of producing tapestry-printed or tapestry-woven pile fabrics and particularly cut pile fab rics of the tapestry type such as are commonly used for carpets and rugs. Such fabrics are of the kind in which the pattern is formed by means of party-colored pileforming warp threads; and carpets and rugs of this kind are commonly known as tapes try carpets and rugs, or as tapestry Brussels. Carpets and rugs of cut pile fabrics of the tapestry type are commonly known as tapestry velvet, or sometimes merely as velvet. It is inherent in tapestry woven pile-fabrics that the pattern of the fabric, whatever this pattern may be, is always more or less irregular and disarranged longitudinally of the fabric, that is, in the di rection of the pattern-forming and pileforming warp threads. This irregularity or unevenness is due principally to the unequal stretching of the long party-colored pileforming and pattern-forming warp threads, upon which the pattern has been previously printed in elongated or long drawn out form. In a complex or complicated pattern this defect is not so noticeable, but in the case of transverse stripes and particularly in the case of a plain border or border stripes of a different color or of a prominently different shade of the same color as compared with a plain central portion or body, this defect be comes objectionably noticeable, particularly in view of the fact that such border or border stripes extend all around the central body part, similarly on the sides and ends thereof, and the straight even lines of demarcation between the different colors or the different shades of color at the sides contrast sharply with the usual ragged and uneven or zigzagging transverse lines of demarcation at the ends between the colors or different shades of color. An object of my inention is, in a simple pattern of this kind,

or in the corresponding parts of a more complex. pattern, to do away with the above mentioned ragged transverse lines and in place thereof to produce sharply defined straight transverse lines of demarcation corresponding in appearance to the straight longitudinal lines in other parts of the pat-, tern. In doing this I greatly add to the appearance and therefore increase the value of the product.

In carrying out my invention I obtain this highly desirable result by inserting a sufficiently large loop-forming member, such as a rod, in the pile-forming shed at the time of weaving, and at the place in the production of the fabric where a change in color or of shades of the same color occurs in the pile-forming warp threads for producing a transverse contrasting line of demarcation or stripe crosswise or transversely of the woven fabric. This inserted loop-forming member or rod is of sufficiently large diameter and the distance circumferentially around it is such that the loops formed thereon will contain at some place around such member the several points longitudinally of the pile-forming warp threads at which the color changes to form the transverse stripe or border. Therefore, it will be noted that by reason of the presence of such loop-forming member, which may be called a take-up rod, the change in color now takes place in the pile warp yarns along a more or less uneven ragged or zigzag line on the rod itself and not, as heretofore, in the woven fabric and hence as heretofore so as to come within the usual length of the pile-forming yarn ends. Therefore, after cutting oi? the projecting loops on both sides of the inclose'd take-up rod, the adjacent or neighboring rows of tuft-forming yarn ends will be of difierent colors or different shades of color, and the transverse line of demarcation produced thereby will be straight and even transversely of the fabric, similarly in this respect to the straight even lines of demarcation running longitudinally and corresponding in the latter case to the different or neighboring individual yarns of which the tufts are formed. Excepting for the use and insertion of this take-up rod, the construction of the loom and the manner of weaving may be the same as has heretofore been commonly employed, and the usual pile-forming wires or other means heretofore commonly embodied in such a loom may be employed.

I shall now describe my invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, diagrammatically illustrating the manner in which the method is carried out and the fabric produced thereby, and thereafter I shall point out my invention in claims.

Figure 1 shows diagrammatically a portion of a rug produced by the method of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing a rug having a different. pattern from that shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view in section longitudinally of the fabric being woven and shows the first step in the carr ing out of my invention, in which the loopforming take-up rod is inserted alongside of one of the usual pile-forming wires at the weaving point through the pile-forming shed there produced.

Fig. 4: is a plan view of what appears in Fig. 3, with the take-up rod and the first pile-forming wire omitted, and shows the offset or irregular Zigzag color relation in which the pile-forming warp threads approach the weaving point, the stufi'er and binder warps being omitted for clearness of illustration.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3 and illus- Hates the next step, in which the weaving has been continued in the usual way with the take-up rod surrounded by enlarged loops formed in the pile-forming warps, the point in each thread at which the color changes being included in the enlar ed loop at some place around the circumference of the tape-up rod.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of what'a-ppears in Fig. 5 but with the stulfer warp omitted for the sake of clearness, and with the binder warps also omitted in the upper part of the figure.

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Figs. 3 and 5, illustrating the next following step in which the expanded loops of pile-forming warp threads surrounding the take-up rod have been out along one side of this rod adjacent to the tops of the usual loops formed over the usual pile-forming wires.

Fig. 8 is a similar View after the take-up rod and the usual pile-forming wires have been removed, and the usual pile-forming loops having been cut so as to leave the usual tuft-producing yarn ends.

Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic transverse section as viewed from the left in Fig. 8, and this section may be considered as being taken on a vertical plane indicated by the line 99.

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Figs. 3, 5, 7

and 8, after the long projecting yarn ends ha ving thereon two'different shades or colors and which formed the enlarged loops around the take-up rod, have been sheared ofi' evenly with the adj acent usual tuft-forming yarn ends, thereby to produce the completed fabric.

Fig. 11 is a plan view of a portion of the fabric appearing in Fig. 10, and also may be considered as an enlarged plan view of what appears at the right and lower part in Fig. 1, and includesa part of the body, a part of the end border and a part of the side border at the corner of the rug.

In the tapestry-woven cut pile or velvet rug carrying out my invention shown in Fig. 1, such rug has a plain center or body part 1 of comparatively light color which is surrounded by a plain border of considerablydarker color and made up of marginal side stripes 2 (of which a part of one is shown) which at the corners are joined by transverse end stripes 3 (of which a part of one is shown) to complete the border around the rug. The upper surface of the rug shown in Fig. 1, as is well understood in the art, is made up of pile-forming yarn ends or tufts arranged in both longitudinal and transverse rows of which each longitudinal row corresponds to a pattern-forming pile warp thread and of which the transverse rows correspond to the usual pile wires inserted in the pile shed at the time of wearing. It is obvious that all of the pile warp threads which go to make up the side parts 2 of the dark marginal border are of a solid dark color throughout their length 'while those pile-forming and pattern-forming warp threads inward from the side border stripes 2 have lighter portions forming the lighter colored central part or body 1, and have at the proper place alon their length darker portions extending fongitudinally thereof for forming the end stripes 3 of the surrounding dark border. These rugs are commonly woven in continuous double-selvage strips in which each selvage is at the outer edge of a side border such as 2 and in which the successive rugs are cut apart at the middle of a transverse stripe of twice the width required for forming the end part 8 of the dark border. The line of denial-ca tion or line of contrast occurring between the lighter body 1 and the border side stripe 2 is always a clear and well defined straight line, by reason of the fact that the adjacent longitudinal rows of tuft-forming yarn ends along this'dividing line are formed by individual adjacent or neighboring longitudinally extending pile-forming warp threads. However, owing to the unequal stretching of the long pile-forming yarns, the line of nemarcation extending transversely between the body part 1 and" the end border stripes 3, in the art as heretofore practised, is wavy and indistinct and generally ragged and uneven'i'n appearance, this line being formed, as will be readily understood, by differently colored portions occurring longitudinally on the successive yarns so that this transverse line of demarcation between the body and border at the end will zigzag back and forth between several different rows of pile-forming yarn ends transversely of the fabric. This ragged and indistinct line of demarca tion between the body 1 of the lighter color and the marginal end border stripe 3 of a darker color is most noticeable and therefore more objectionable in unfigured fabrics, and

while my present invention overcoming this difficulty may be applied to remedy a similar defect in figured fabrics, its greatest utility is in fabrics in which the body and border are plain or substantially so. In the example of the rug embodying my invention illustrated in Fig. 1, it will be noted that the line of demarcation between the solid lighter colored body part 1 of the rug and the solid darker colored end border part 3 thereof is as sharp and distinct as that between the solid body 1 and the side border stripe 2. This is due to the fact that the transverse line of demarcation between the body 1 and the end border 8 runs straight across between adjacent transverse rows of tufts, as is clearly shown in Fig. 11 corresponding eX- actly in this respect to the line of demarcation between the body 1 and the side border 2.

In the rug carrying out my invention illustrated in Fig. 2 there is a central body part 1 of a light shade, this body part 4. being surrounded at its margin by three border stripes comprising two solid colored dark stripes and an intermediate lighter stripe. These border stripe comprise at the side of the rug an inner and comparatively narrow dark stripe 5 which at the corner of the rug is joined by an inner transverse dark border stripe 6, an intermediate narrow light colored side border stripe 7 which at the corner of the rug is joined by an intermediate transverse border stripe 8, and an outer wider dark colored border stripe 9 at the side which at the corner of the rug is joined by a transverse end stripe 10 of dark color. In weaving this rug shown in Fig. 2, it will be necessary to put in the hereinbefore mentioned take-up rod for forming large loops at three different places as the weaving progresses, one of these places being along the line of demarcation between the end of the light shaded solid colored body part 1 and the inner transverse border stripe 6, another of these places being along the line of demarcation between this inner dark shaded border stripe 6 and the adjacent intermediate light shaded border stripe 8, and the remaining place being between the line of demarcation between the light shaded trans verse border stripe S and the outer dark colored borderstripe 10, this operation of inserting the take-up rod to form the enlarged loops being successively performed at these different places as the weaving progresses.

In Figs. 8 to 11 inclusive there is diagrammatically shown a common form of a twoshot pile fabric weave, although it is to be understood that so far as my present invention is concerned it is immaterial whether a two-shot, a three-shot or some other form of weaving "be employed. The fabric in process of weaving shown in Figs. 3 to 11 inclusive of the drawings, comprises weft threads to, two sets of binder warp threads I), stuffer warp threads S, and pattern-forming pile warp threads 1 which latter are shown as having light colored parts 11 corresponding to the body 1 of the rug shown in Fig. 1, and as havin longitudinally thereof dark colored parts 12 corresponding to the dark end border 3 in Fig. 1.

No part of the loom is shown excepting usual pile wires 13, which may be employed in the required number and may be, as is common, automatically operated by any suitable wire motion, and at their free end the pile-forming wires 18 may, as is common, carry knives for cutting the pile loops as the wires are withdrawn so as to leave yarn ends or tufts which form the pile.

As the differently colored portions of the pile warp threads P approach the weaving point, the points of change in shade or color along these threads will for some of the threads be more advanced than in others, presenting thereby an uneven appearance, as shown in Fig. 4. It is obvious that it these pile warp threads were thus woven into the fabric, as has been done heretofore. a ragged or uneven line of demarcation would be produced in the rug, for example, in Fig. 1 between the light shaded body. 1 and the dark end stripe 3, instead of the straight line of demarcation there shown. At the wire pick of the loom where the unevenly arranged colored portions of the pile-forming warp threads P approach the weaving point or cloth point, I insert in the pileforming shed or warp shed formed for the pile wires 13, a take-up member, shown as a rod 14,

alongside of the pile wire, as shown in Fig.

3. Then the weft threads w are beaten up in the usual way by the lay mechanism in the loom, the inserted take-up rod 14 will take the position appearing in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings, and this take-up rod 1% is of suflicient diameter so that the change in color along the various pile warp threads P will take place at some point around the projecting part of the circumference of this take-up rod 14, as is also shown in Figs. 5

and 6 taken together.

lVhen the weaving has proceeded in the usual way to a suflicient and safe distance beyond the place where the take-up rod 1% was inserted, a loop-cutting knife is passed along one side of this rod close down to the tops of the yarn loops which have been formed over the adjacent pile wires 13, thereby freeing the take-up rod 14, and permitting the long yarn ends which have previously formed the enlarged loops around this rod 14, to spring up from the rod 1a to the substantially upright position shown in Fig. 7. The take-up rod 1% is now removed, and also the pile-forming loops passing over the pile rods 13 are automatically cut by the withdrawal of the knife-carrying pile wires 13 as the weaving proceeds, leaving the two-colored longer yarn ends projecting upward in a transverse row above the shorter pile-forming tufts and as is shown in Figs. 8 and'9 of the drawings. Now, by means of a pair of suitable shears, the twocolored projecting yarn ends are cut off even with the tops of the yarn ends forming the cut pile or tufts, leaving the completed fab ric as shown in Figs. 10 and 11, and also in Fig. 1, this completed fabric having a straight sharply defined dividing line of demarcation transversely as well as longitudinally between its darker solid colored border and its lighter shaded solid colored body 1, all of the uneven or irregularly arranged color points in the pile forming warps P having been removed in the projecting yarn ends which were sheared off, as will be readily understood.

In the claims, the term tapestry pile fabric is to be understood as meaning tapestry-woven pile fabric whether cut or uncut, and therefore as including both tapestry Brussels and tapestry velvet carpets and rugs. Of course in any case practice of my invention will result in the production of a double row of cut pile along the place where the take-up rod was inserted.

It is obvious that various modifications may be made in the pile fabric and method of producing the same shown in the drawings and above particularly described within the principle and scope of my invention.

I claim:

1. The method of producing a tapestry pile fabric which consists in inserting in the pile-forming shed along a line of change of shade or color in the pattern formed by the pile-forming warp threads a member of sufficient diameter to take up in the loops formed thereon the inequality in such shade or color line due to the offset relation of the respective pile-forming warp threads along different parts of such line produced by such change in shade or in color, and in then severing at both ends the pile thread loops passing over each member, whereby such severed portions of yarn will contain the points of change inshade or color and the line of change in shade or color in the fabr c wlll be an even stralght l ne.

2. The method of producing a tapestry pile fabric which consists in inserting a take-up member transversely in the pile forming shed along a transverse line of change in shade or color in the pattern formed by the pile-forming warp threads, this take-up member being of a diameter to contain in the loop formed thereon the parts of the pile-forming'warp threads in which the change in shade or. color takes place, in

then continuing the weaving and beating.

up the weft, leaving the take-up member in place until after the weaving point is safely passed to a sufficient distance, then cutting the loops and removing the take-up member, and finally shearing off the projecting yarn ends containing therein the change in shade or color, whereby a straight line transversely of the fabric will be produced between adjacent rows of pile-forming tufts of different shades or colors.

3. The method of producing a tapestry pile fabric which consists in introducing a loop-forming take-up member into the pileforming shed at a place longitudinally of the pile-forming warp threads where a change in shade or color in the pattern along a transverse line takes place, such member being of sufficient diameter that the change in shade or color will take place in the loops form-ed thereon, proceeding with the weaving as usual leaving such member in place above the woven fabric, cutting the loops along one side of the memher so as to leave at that side of the memher a row of yarn ends forming usual tufts and whereby the member is released, and finally shearing off the projecting yarn ends containing thereon the change in shade or color so as thereby to leave another row. of yarn ends adjacent to the first transversely of the fabric forming ausual row of tufts of a different shade or color from the said neighboring row, whereby the change in shade or color t -ansversely of the fabric will be effected along a substantially straight line transversely of the warp.

The method of producing a tapestry pile fabric which consists in inserting in the pile-forming warp shed a take-up member along a transverse line or at a place corresponding to a change in shade or color in the pattern formed by the pile-forming warp threads, such take-up member being inserted: alongside of a usual pileforming wire and being of such diameter that the change in shade or color on the pileforming warp threads takes place at some point around the circumference of such member in the expanded loopsformed thereon, continuing the weaving until the weaving point or cloth point is safely passed, cutting the expanded loops around such take-up memher to release the member, and then shear ing off the projecting yarn ends on a level with the tuft-forming yarn ends formed by the usual pile-forming wires, whereby the change in shade or color longitudinally of the pile-forming warp threads will take place along a substantially straight trans- Verse line across the fabric between two adjacent rows of tuft-forming yarn ends.

5. The invention claimed in claim 4 in which the expanded loops around the takeup member are cut at one side substantially on a level with the usual adjacent cut tuftforming yarn ends thereby to release such member and in which the single row of projecting yarn ends which formed the expanded loops around such member are afterward sheared off at substantially the same level so that these sheared off ends contain the points of change in shade or color in the pile-forming warp threads and. whereby the change in shade or color in the fabric takes place along a substantially straight line between two adjacent rows of tuft-forming yarn ends.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature to this specification.

AUGUST G. FROMU TH. 

